Soulmates Never Die
by LittleMissHeartfillia
Summary: Gajeel Redfox never believed in love. He was sure it wasn't for him. But those six little words were going to change his life.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: And this dear followers is the result of a collab with tumblr user Gajeely! I seriously suggest you check her out on tumblr because she drew cover photos for all of the next three chapters of this fic. Also she's just got an amazing blog! So enjoy another cheesy ass soulmate gajevy au!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or it's characters. Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

True love doesn't exist. Gajeel had believed that his entire life. In fact he wished the very concept of it would disappear. He didn't need it, although the rest of the world would tell him otherwise. "You'll find true love," they'd say. "It's just a matter of time." They would insist that there was someone out there for everyone and that the words on his arm should have proven to him that his soulmate was somewhere on this earth. He fought the urge to scream at them. To shout that there was nothing there.

He didn't have a soulmate. He couldn't count the number of times he'd look at that one blank spot of skin on his arm and wonder...Wish that he would see something, that words would magically appear. Instead their wanton silence confirmed what he'd told himself from a young age. He would die alone. Forever that cruelly intimidating next door neighbor who unironically owns a cat. _True love is for saps._ He told himself, shaking the thoughts out of his head and making his way to his front door. _I sure as hell don't need it._ He looked behind him to his couch where his brown furred cat, Pantherlily, was lounging with his feet in the air. "Good enough for me." He called to the cat who didn't move. "I'll see ya later, 'Lil. Try not to destroy the house while I'm gone." He looked back one more time waiting for a response. The only thing he got was Pantherlily letting out a strangled meow that sounded oddly guttural for a cat. He shook his head and opened the door. He walked out onto the porch and stuck the key in the lock. A noise at his side caught his attention.

"And this is your apartment key. Try not to lose it. Keep up with rent and make sure your apartment is in good repair and we'll get along just fine." He recognized the voice of Old Man Markorov, his landlord. It looked like he was helping someone into the empty apartment next to his. While Markorov explained the rules of the complex a busty blonde stood looking away from him and making strange motions with her hands.

She looked like a lunatic, making all these crazy motions while his landlord tried to talk to her. He took a few steps forward to greet the old man.

"Yo, gramps," he said raising a hand in greeting. The minute he got closer to the blonde at Markorov's side Gajeel realized there was someone else standing in front of the blonde, intensely focused on her crazy hand movements. She was short, _really_ short, Gajeel hadn't even noticed her at first. Her wide hips fit her perfectly and that short scruffy blue hair made a bigger first impression than he had expected.

Markorov turned and waved a hand to Gajeel in return. "Gajeel. Good to see you out and about," he said and the blonde once again made a bunch of hand movements to the shorter one who finally took her eyes off the blonde's antics and looked around her waist to catch Gajeel's eye. "This is your new neighbor, Ms. Levy McGarden." Markorov continued and gestured to the blue haired beauty beside him. She smiled nervously and waved.

Gajeel gave her a nod, then looked at Markorov as he kept talking. "She just moved into town a few days ago with her friend Lucy here. I've known Levy since she was a child, being a close friend of her family…" Markorov kept talking but Gajeel's attention was stolen by the girl who had been staring at him since he stood there.

He looked over to catch her eye, raising his eyebrow as he did. "Why is she staring at me?" He thought then realized he'd actually mumbled his words aloud. They locked eyes for a few seconds before she seemed to just notice his gaze and turned away. If she had heard his thoughts slip out she hadn't cared.

"Either way," Markorov continued, too caught up in his own speech to notice anything. "Levy's a nice girl. She shouldn't be too much of a nuisance. Isn't that right, m'dear?" he turned to Levy who Gajeel noticed had been staring at him again. She realized Markorov had asked her a question and almost immediately became flustered. She gave a short kind of squeak that was almost cute, then waved her hands to the blonde beside her who then turned to Markorov and said,

"She say's not to worry. Levy doesn't usually make much noise aside from her music." Then the blonde leaned in and whispered. "In fact all she does is read books until three in the morning."

Markorov chuckled a bit. "Sure sounds like you haven't changed a bit. Well, good luck getting settled. You have my number if you need anything," he said, turning away and walking down the second story stairs. Gajeel took one last look at Levy and Lucy seemingly exchanging a conversation with just hand motions. _Sign language, huh?_ He thought. _Wonder what her story is?_ He passed off the thoughts in his head and followed Markorov's lead down the stairs. He wasn't much of a people person and he doubted he would venture out to talk to this new girl much. Sure he knew most of the people in his apartment complex but most of them he had known since high school. Strange how they all ended up in the same place but he didn't think on it much. Thinking too much was bad for his health. His time in the military had taught him that.

Gajeel brought the keys out of his pants pocket and was about to step into his car when he heard footsteps stomping wildly down the stairs and a breathless huffing behind him. He turned to see that the Levy girl had followed him to his car and was holding something out to him.

He raised an eyebrow at her. Silently reaching to take the piece of paper in her hands. As she held her hands out to him her quarter sleeves rode up and he read the words on her wrist that every single person had. The words that determined everyone's fate. The usually short phrase that told them the first words their soulmate would ever say to them. It read, ' _Why is she staring at me'_

His eye's widened but he tried to keep his reaction on the low key. She was still waiting for him to take the piece of paper that she held out to him. He took it and looked at the hastily scribbled words on it. "Hi. My name's Levy, maybe Uncle Markorov already introduced you to me and I couldn't hear it but- I'm your new neighbor! It's nice to meet you. Could you please kindly write your name on the paper so I know it? I'm deaf you see and appreciate your kindness." It looked as though she had just written this on the wall of the complex and ran down to give it to him before he left. The handwriting was sloppy, almost illegible, and the pencil marks were broken and light. A few words had been crossed out and he got the impression that if this girl could speak she would be rambling at a mile a minute.

He looked up at Levy. Her hands were behind her back politely, she was smiling but something about it felt off, like she was trying too hard. Occasionally her hands would fiddle with the hem of her orange dress. She caught him looking at her and looked away shyly. He grunted and shrugged, about to write down his name for her when he realized he didn't have a pen.

He patted his pockets a few times but they held nothing aside from his wallet and phone. He looked at Levy and mimicked signing something on the paper. She blushed and held out a pencil for him. After he took it she said something in sign language he didn't understand a few times over.

He wrote his name down, and handed her the paper. She looked at it, nodded and then smiled at him. Something in his mind stopped just to stare at her. He hadn't even realized she'd held out her other hand for a handshake until it was awkwardly too late. He took it and smirked at her.

After their exchange she turned around and ran back up the stairs, stopping only once to wave goodbye to him. He waved to her in return before getting in his car, slamming the door and letting his head fall back on the seat with a large sigh. _That shorty is something else…_ He thought before starting his car and driving off.

It was two weeks after Levy moved in and Gajeel had seen her more often than he ever thought he would. The day they met he came home from work and she was sitting right there on the porch signing wildly with an old friend of his by her side. Gajeel smirked and smacked the pink haired boy, Natsu, upside the head for good measure, releasing a cacophony of protests from him.

"You couldn't take me with both my hands tied behind my back," Gajeel had said in response to him asking Gajeel if he wanted to fight.

"That's what you think!" Natsu boasted, patting his bicep. "I've been hitting the gym every day since I lost to you last! There's no way you can beat me now!"

"Wanna bet, Salamander?" Gajeel said leaning in close. They were about to tussle like they always did but they were interrupted by a strange uncontrollable cackling. He turned to Levy to see her nearly bent over with laughter. Her laugh was more of a cackle as if she couldn't control it. It was wild and untamed. After a few moments she opened her eyes and noticed them staring. Immediately her hand covered her mouth and red dusted her cheeks. She smiled nervously and signed something Gajeel couldn't understand. Natsu laughed, singing back to her.

"You can understand that alien language?" Gajeel asked him. Natsu just turned to shrug at him and said,

"Levy's my cousin, I grew up learning sign language. You should see her when she's angry though. No one can understand her then." He whispered the last part to Gajeel and as though she could tell what he was saying Levy punched his arm. "Ow." Natsu protested. "She can always tell whenever I talk about her. It's like a gift. A horribly annoying gift." He said loudly, looking at her. Levy stuck her tongue out at him but they both ended up laughing.

Now here she was, with her door wide open and a surprising amount of voices coming from inside. Gajeel had just gotten off work early by closing up the mechanic shop after he finished the last customers job, he hadn't expected Shrimp to throw a party, she didn't seem like the type. When he walked past he recognized a couple of residents from the complex and a few he didn't. If he thought on it he did recall Natsu telling him something about Levy's home welcoming party. Apparently him and Gray had set it up and invited half the complex in the process.

"You should come too, metalhead." Natsu had told him. "Everyone's gonna be there. Besides Levy can't shut up about you."

He almost spit out his soda, lots of it bubbled up his nose causing him to cough uncontrollably. "Yer lyin!" he finally spat. "She's only been here two weeks."

Natsu laughed wildly then and nudged him a little. "Oh so you like her too?"

"Don't put words in my mouth, ya bastard!" Natsu had just laughed even more.

He stood there for a moment taking in the sight of people mingling about Levy's apartment. It wasn't that he didn't like the idea of a welcoming party. But he didn't have any sort of gift or anything to give her. His mind flashed back to the first time they met. He couldn't get the image of her wrist out of his head. That tiny phrase...Six words. _Why is she staring at me?_

He shook his head and kept going into his apartment. Before he took three more steps though, a hand yanked his collar back into Levy's open apartment door. "Oh no you don't, iron bolts!" it said and he recognized Cana's voice, his old drinking buddy.

"What the hell, woman! Let go of me!" He shouted to her but she, being surprisingly strong, tossed him in front of her and put her hands on her hips. "Wipe that damn smirk off yer face. You can't even let me change first?" he said, gesturing to his greasy work clothes.

"What are you a girl? Man up and party!" she screamed, grabbing a bottle of whiskey off the counter and holding it high in the air. The rest of the room cheered.

"Juvia is so happy to see Gajeel-kun out of his shell!" A blue haired beauty sauntered up and greeted him.

"Yea, I'm sure you are, rain woman," he said. "How do you know Levy anyway?"

Juvia just smiled at him and said, "Oh, Juvia doesn't. But Lucy does and she invited Juvia to have fun."

Just then loud noises could be heard from around a corner. Gajeel and Juvia walked forward to see Natsu bashing his head against that of another dark haired man. His rival since they'd been kids and often times his polar opposite, Gray Fullbuster.

"Say that again, flame brain, I dare you!" Gray was yelling, his voice carrying above the murmur among the crowd.

"You heard me droopy eyes! What are your ears full of hot air too?" Gajeel heard a squeak come from behind the bickering boys and soon tiny Levy squeezed herself between the two, trying desperately to push them off each other.

"Man up, you two." A large muscled blonde said pressing his hands on both the boy's heads and separating them better than Levy could. "Levy requested no fighting here remember?"

Both Natsu and Gray pouted but accepted the blonde's words with a death glare at the other boy. Levy bowed to the taller blonde but he just waved a hand dismissively before walking back into the crowd.

Levy stood up straight and she caught sight of Gajeel standing, watching the whole spectacle. Her face seemed to light up, just like it always did whenever she greeted him in the morning while he went to work and she went on her daily walk.

She walked around the coffee table and couch then parted the throng of people to greet him. Since he'd known her she had managed to teach him some simple sign language, such as, 'hello', 'thank you', and 'goodbye' just enough to get him by. She came up to him signing a hello and a lot of other words he didn't know yet.

Juvia looked at her surprised. "Lucy did not tell Juvia that Levy knows sign language?" she said, seemingly in awe.

Gajeel chuckled. "She doesn't just know it, it's how she speaks." Juvia looked at him confused. "She's deaf." He explained and suddenly Juvia's expression changed to something short of sympathy.

"Juvia had no idea!" She gave a deep bow. "She is sorry to hear that."

Levy almost giggled, but it came out more strangled and choked than it should have. She waved her hand and smiled at Juvia.

"She's telling you it's fine," he said and Juvia straightened. Levy smiled brighter and stuck a hand out to her. Juvia took it gladly.

Gajeel signed each letter of Juvia's name, spelling it out for Levy. She perked up and signed something else that he couldn't read.

"Yer gonna have to teach me fer days on end until I'll be able to understand you, shorty." He spoke. Her reaction was a little delayed but he knew she could read his lips. More often than not when he would grumble she understood it anyway and signed to Lucy to retort at him. It was as if this woman he just met two weeks ago could read him like a book...He loved it.

"Gray-sama!" Juvia broke Gajeel out of his thoughts. She waved her hand in the air and called to the dark haired man across the way. "Wait for Juvia if you're going to take your shirt off!" Gajeel could see Gray's face go beat red as he slinked his way through the crowd and avoided her eye contact. Juvia called his name again and went running off after him.

Gajeel smirked and Levy let out a short snort. She took out her phone, checked the time and then smiled, taking Gajeel's hand. "Wha-" he almost said but she was already pulling him out the door and up the stairs. He wondered what the hell she was doing but Levy didn't look back as she raced him up the stairs which he took three at a time. Calling out to her was useless, she wouldn't be able to hear it anyway.

Levy dragged him all the way up to the highest story then rounded a corner, looking back only once to see if he was still following. He was about to mouth his confusion to her when she turned forward again and ran straight for a ladder around the other side of the building. She started climbing, gesturing for him to follow her. He guessed he had no choice so he followed suit. Once she was at the top he heard her take a sharp inhale of breath.

"Shrimp, what-?" He got to the top saying but stopped when he noticed her standing almost to the edge of the building. Gingerly she put one foot on the lip of the building's edge. Gajeel's eyes widened and he ran to catch her torso before she could jump. She squeaked when he grabbed her. He placed her on the ground behind him and stared into her eyes. She looked confused more than anything. He looked back at the building's edge and got the message.

He let go of her waist and she went right back to the spot she had been. Her blue hair moved wildly in the wind, tempered only a little by her orange headband. Her pastel peach dress billowed in the wind and she held it down with one hand while the other pushed back a piece of her hair. She had the biggest smile on her face while she stared across the horizon. Past their apartment complex there was endless fields, rolling into mountains in the distance. White puffy clouds rippled across the sky that extended into forever. A rough breeze blew, carrying with it a flock of birds that rode the wind and Levy's gaze turned to follow the birds. A smile appeared on her face as pure and golden as the sunset that outlined her tiny frame. Her skin was practically glowing with the light of the golden sundrops.

She looked back at him smiling, she extended her arm out, pointing to the sunset, as if to say, _Look at how pretty it is!_

He couldn't respond. His eyes saw her looking at him, his brain knew she was asking for a response but his body refused to move. He wanted to stare at her longer...for eternity even if it would keep this image sunken in his mind till his very last moments.

Finally Levy took his large weathered hand in her delicate one and pulled him to the edge with her. When he put his feet on the lip just as she had she smiled brightly and signed something to him he couldn't understand. In his mind he imagined her voice, sweet and motherly, saying to him _It's more fun to walk along the edge._ Whether she meant the edge of buildings or the edge of life itself he didn't know. Levy seemed to be the kind of girl who would live life as full as she can. In the short time that she had known him she'd gotten him to go hike the mountains for three days straight, dragged him to every bookstore around town and even gotten him to share almost everything in his apartment with her, from a jug of milk to blankets for cold nights when her heater wasn't working.

He looked down at her, looking like she was about to pop out a pair of feathery wings and fly away with the wind and he had to wonder. How did he end up here? Before he could think on that Levy threw her head back and let out a loud, off key yell. She pumped her hands in the air and her voice sounded more like a scream than a cry of excitement. Every time the wind picked up a new fierce breeze she would start another loud war cry until her voice was rising and falling with the wind. Gajeel smirked as an idea popped into his head. He grabbed Levy's waist again, ignoring her tiny squeak and near yelp of surprise. He placed her on his shoulders with her leggings rubbing against his cheeks as her hands pounded themselves down on his head in joy. She took a huge breath and let out another scream.

Suddenly he saw her hands come down in front of his face. He caught a thank you hand sign but after that her hand motions were lost to him. Still he could see in the way her hands shook and how her fingers seemed to jump with excitement that she was filled with joy.

He smirked, more to himself than anyone else and silently enjoyed listening to her gasps of excitement. Occasionally she would reach up into the sky as a bird flew overhead, as if she was tall enough to reach it, and send both of their balance nearly over the edge. Gajeel spat out a few lectures on why she shouldn't do that but his breath and his body language was wasted when she did it again only five minutes later.

Gajeel was sure they would stay on that rooftop forever, laying down and watching the clouds, pointing to ones they liked as the sky darkened against the russet sun. Finally Lucy came calling over the ladder. She didn't look surprised at all to see Levy up here but when she caught sight of Gajeel something in her eyes glinted with mischief.

"Oh?" she said, walking up to the both of them on the ground. "Should I leave you two alone?"

"Shut it, blondie." Gajeel commented and tried to shoo her head away as he sat up. Just then Levy got up and began conversing with Lucy. The two delved into a hands fast flying language he couldn't hope to follow. When they were done Lucy turned to him.

"You guys should come back down now, Erza said she wants cake." She started to walk away then called back. "And hurry up or Juvia said she'd come up here herself and drag you down."

Levy followed Lucy's lead without looking back. Gajeel hesitated for just a moment, if anything to savor her walk and the way her dress swayed with her womanly gait. For a moment he allowed his thoughts free will and what they came to was something he was finding harder to deny by the day.

 _She's my soulmate…_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's chapter two! I'm so glad to know you guys are liking this! Please don't be afraid to leave reviews and such. As a writer I eat up anything you have to say. Seriously! Anyway enjoy the second chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or it's characters. Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

"The end? What kind of ending was that?" Levy signed to him, her scrunched eyebrows doing more than enough to tell him of her disappointment in his story.

Gajeel smirked and began slowly signing to her, speaking with his lips as he did, "That's the kind of ending that leaves you hanging. A story's much better when the ending is left open."

Levy puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms. "Says you." She signed then turned away. Gajeel tapped her shoulder to get her to look at him.

He thinks for a bit staring at his hands. Ever since that day on the roof Levy had been teaching him more sign language every day. Before their conversations had consisted of nothing more than passing notes on a piece of paper. He still kept all those papers and all those conversations in a locked drawer at his house. He doubted that Levy even knew he kept them but he had a nagging feeling he needed to remember her. As if she wouldn't always be there with him. That's what always happened, anyway. He lost everyone who was ever close to him. He wasn't surprised he was afraid of losing her too.

"Ok. Your turn." He tried to sign but Levy took his fingers and adjusted them a little bit then gave him a thumbs up. He studied the shape his hands made and tried to hold on to it. Levy straightened her back a bit and took a deep breath. She adjusted her crossed legs so she was sitting a bit taller and facing Gajeel head on.

Her hands began to sign faster than he could read and he had to put a hand on hers and slowly sign, "Go slower." She let out a huff of breath and he almost thought she was laughing at him but her hand signs started up again.

"This is one about a haunted classroom." She signed as he barely followed along. She stared him in the eyes dramatically.

Gajeel almost smiled. "Tellin' ghost stories now?" he said before he remembered she couldn't hear him. Levy seemed to understand him anyway and smiled before getting right back into character.

"It started 26 years ago, in ninth grade, class three-" Levy stopped and looked around for a bit. Then she jumped up and ran to turn off the lights in her apartment before joining Gajeel back on the rug in front of her couch. She turned her phone flashlight on, then asked him to do the same. Now the room, being late at night, had an eerie atmosphere that was dimly lit.

Gajeel chuckled. "You're going to have to try harder than that to scare me." He signed sluggishly trying hard to remember the signals and to sound them out as he did.

Levy simply puffed her chest out arrogantly. Her hands jumped and her fingers twitched while she decided where to start again. "In class three there was a girl loved by all. Teacher's favorite and student's favorite she was great at sports, and got perfect grades. Until one day." Levy made her hand movements deliberately slow so as to say each word menacingly. "She died!" She signed and then dramatically pulled her finger across her throat and stuck her tongue to the side of her mouth. Gajeel couldn't stop a chuckle but Levy didn't let his apparent laughter phase her acting as she now stood up and pretended to be performing for him.

"Every student had different stories of how she actually died." She signed and proceeded to act out a few of them. "She hung herself." Levy mimicked a noose pulling tight on her neck and let her head go limp. "She was murdered." Levy held an imaginary knife and ran it through her gullet. With every fake death Levy's expressions would change but more often than not her depiction of a death had to include a very floppy and limp tongue. "The students were shocked of her death." She continued to sign, letting her hand gestures go all over the place. "But no one spoke about it...until. One of her classmates stood up during a lecture and said, 'There she is. She's standing right there. She's not dead.'" Levy signed then faced right and pointed to an imaginary place beyond. She turned back to Gajeel and kept the charade going. "After that another student stood up and said the same thing, and another, and another! Until everyone in class, even the teacher, continued to act like the dead girl was still alive and attending class with the rest of them. Now legends say that once every year in that same classroom...a curse will begin. When it does, no one is safe. From the wrath of THE DEAD STUDENT GIRL!" She signed wildly, Gajeel could barely keep up but in the end Levy opened her mouth in a pretend roar, letting out an offbeat ' _aaahhh_ ' and holding her hands like claws over him.

She waited for his reaction, holding her pose until he signed something in response. "Was that it?" he signed. Levy put her hands on her hips and frowned at him. Then she sat down cross legged again and signed,

"It was better than your story."

Gajeel shook his head and signed back, "That story couldn't even scare a little bug." Levy rolled her eyes.

"And you think you could do better, Mr. Tough Guy?" Gajeel smirked at her and leaned in close until she felt his breath on her cheeks. He let his unusually sharp canines and bright red irises speak for themselves.

He started to speak but did it slowly so her eyes focused on reading his lips. "You wouldn't know what hit ya if I did." Then he leaned back to his original spot and sat there with arms crossed proudly. "So I'll let ya live tonight. I'm nothing if not merciful."

Levy rolled her eyes again and signed, "Your arrogance may get you killed one day." He shrugged and she got up from her spot to grab a water bottle from her fridge. She held one up with the other in her free hand. He raised a hand and she tossed it to him over the couch.

When she sat back down she took a sip of water then turned her gaze to him. Gajeel had downed almost the whole 16 ounce bottle when he noticed her staring.

"What?" he asked.

She didn't sign just pointed to something on his neck. He looked down to see that his dog tags had wormed their way out into the open. He usually kept them under his shirt but they must have moved when he wasn't paying attention. He looked back up at Levy who had worry on her face now and signed. "Are you in the military?"

Gajeel grunted, downing the last of his water and crushing the bottle instantly. He hadn't learned the hand signal for army yet so he spoke it with exaggerated mouth movements and hoped she understood it. Levy was strangely good at reading lips.

"What did you do there?" She signed, her attention was now on him fully and it seemed she couldn't take her eyes off his tags.

Subconsciously he grabbed the tags and put them back behind the fabric of his shirt. "Infantry," he said, again unable to sign the word correctly.

Levy was calm for a few moments before signing, "Was it hard?"

Gajeel thought on that for a moment. He avoided her questioning glare and thought back on all the moments he'd been put on the front line. It all came rushing back to him in a flurry of noises. The explosions, the shouting, the gunfire...Soon he could even smell the gunpowder in the air surrounding the musky scent of the swamp around them.

Suddenly a warm hand was placed on his shoulder and he realized he'd squinted his eyes closed. The battlefield faded away before it could swallow him completely and he looked over to see Levy had crawled over to bring him out of his nightmare. She looked at him with worry in her eyes and a crease between her brow.

When he locked eyes with her she pulled her hand away and signed, "I'm sorry."

"It's ok." He signed back, returning the scowl to his face, the one he always wore to hide the pain of the past. Gajeel turned over his phone to check the time, 23:37 it read. Gajeel stood up and signed to Levy, "It's late. I should get going before I'm not able to work in the morning."

Levy stood up and tried for a smile. "Thanks for coming." she signed. Gajeel hid his discomfort behind a smirk.

"Don't lie," he said then began to sign, "You just wanted company to chase away the fear of mediocre ghost stories."

"Mediocre!?" she signed her expression going into dramatized shock. "How dare you?"

Gajeel laughed as he opened the door. He was about to walk out when Levy caught his arm and held him back. He glanced at her over his shoulder waiting for her to do something. She kept her gaze on the ground then after a moment of nothing she raised her hands as if to sign to him but lowered them again and just shook her head.

He raised an eyebrow at her but she just waved goodbye and smiled. He shrugged, waved back and walked the short distance to his own apartment.

Sunlight filtered in from sloppily closed blinds. The corner of the blinds were raised and it cast sunlight directly over Gajeel's sleeping face. His expression cringed and he opened his eyes with a start. Immediately he sat up, breathing heavy and looking around.

When he realized where he was again he grunted and rubbed his face with rough hands. His inward groan intensified as he ran his hands through his long black hair to get it slicked back. Nonetheless the minute his hands let go of his head jet black strands of his hair fell right back in front of his face.

He sighed and got up to go to the bathroom. His eyes were half closed from sleep but the longer he kept them closed the fresher the memory of his nightmares came back. The torment in his head steadily increased and grew louder until he turned the water on and let the hot sting of it wash away everything in his brain.

Steam rose above him and he turned up the heat until it was nearly burning him just to stand under it. Just when he thought he couldn't take the heat anymore he cranked it higher then shut it off soon after. His skin had been changed from dark and tan to red and flushed.

To say he was used to this would be a lie. He should be used to it by now but every time those memories came back they somehow came back fresher and more vivid. He lived this way until one day it would all build up and he'd snap under the pressure. It had happened before and he wasn't going to deny it may happen again soon. Until then he vowed to keep his cool and say nothing just to see how long he'd last.

Maybe it was destructive to live that way but it was the only way he had learned to function. Suddenly his phone began buzzing it's way across the table where he sat to eat. He lifted up the screen to read a text from his brother in arms saying; "I'm waiting by the flagpole for you."

Gajeel sent a quick, "Be right down. I overslept." to the number and wolfed down the rest of his breakfast. Quickly getting ready and stepping out of his door, he was at the flagpole in five minutes.

He caught sight of a pale dark haired man, his hair was pulled back into a ponytail but his bangs still covered his right eye as it always did. When he came close to him they shared a heartily clasped handshake and began jogging together.

Saturday mornings always started like this. Wake himself up from a nightmare he can't seem to escape from, shower until he couldn't feel his skin then hide his weaknesses from everyone he knew. Especially his jogging buddy and former brother in arms, Rogue Cheney.

Somehow Rogue could always draw it out of him anyway. Like now when he started a conversation with, "Did you have that nightmare again?"

Gajeel gave a look of discontent. "How do you read people like a book, Ryos?"

"It's all in the eyes. Plus your ears are still red. They only do that when you turn the heat up too much in the shower. Even on the battlefield you had a bad habit of doing that."

"Yea, well you can't tell me you haven't had the same nightmares."

Rogue, or Ryos as Gajeel knew him by, held a firm frown as he said, "It's an occupational hazard. The worst part is that they don't tell you that you're signing up for a lifetime of grueling service. Then again if they did I don't think they'd have as many recruits."

Gajeel picked up the rest of his sentence. "And our military would be devastated."

There was silence for a few streets then Rogue spoke again. "So how bad was it this time?"

"The usual."

"Hm...Those are the worst."

Rogue and Gajeel traveled in silence for another stretch of five blocks until they came to rest at the cafe hot spot in town. Both boys sat down outside the cafe and called to the local waitress who knew all they needed was a cup of water. She came over with a smile, "Here ya are, darlings. Stay hydrated out there."

"Thanks, Bisca." Gajeel said as she turned to take care of her other customers. The duo silently sipped their waters and caught their breath. Gajeel glanced at Rogue's arm resting on the table. His eyes fell upon the blank space on his wrist, the same one Gajeel had.

"Did you find them yet?" Rogue said suddenly.

"What?"

Rogue gave him a look. "Your soulmate," he said.

Gajeel hesitated and looked away. "I don't have one, remember."

Rogue didn't bother trying to keep eye contact and turned his gaze to the street. "With that guilty look I don't buy that for one second."

"We can't all be lucky like you and meet our soulmate after he got his tongue cut out." Gajeel scoffed as he recalled his time with Rogue in the infantry. They were on a rescue mission, four army captains had been taken hostage by the enemy. Their job was to secure the victims lives and position. When they stormed the place they found only one captain. His hands tied behind his back, his mouth open and bleeding and a dull set to his eyes that, at first glance made Gajeel think he was dead.

Rogue frowned, recalling the memories just as Gajeel was. In the aftermath they discovered they were soulmates. Rogue and Sting had been together three years since then, and the memory still haunted them both. "If that's what you call lucky then you're more pessimistic than I thought."

"At least you know why there are no words written on yer wrist," Gajeel muttered staring at the blank spot of skin on Rogue's arm.

"So who is it? Judging by that look on your face I assume you've met her-or him."

Gajeel sighed. "Her," he corrected. Rogue sat up in his chair immediately, looking over the table at Gajeel with intensified focus. "Levy McGarden. She was born deaf."

Rogue cracked a smirk and said, "There ya go. I knew you had one."

Gajeel still held his gaze to the ground. "That's not it, Ryos." Rogue gave him a look of confusion, prompting him to continue. Gajeel let out a shaky breath and hesitated. "She's everything. Everything perfect and good. That tiny girl shines like the sun and I…" Gajeel grunted in frustration. "I can't even try to be what she deserves."

"Well, something tells me you don't have to." Gajeel looked to Rogue for clarification. "She's your soulmate, dude. Obviously you were meant to be together. And for whatever reason someone up above thinks Old Iron Arm Gajeel deserves someone to love."

"Don't go gettin' sappy on me, Ryos!"

Rogue laughed. "You know what I mean...Get to know this girl. You may find that you're not as messed up as you thought."

He shrugged off Rogue's words then but they still echoed in his ears throughout the day, only to become more persistent when Levy gave him her usual sunshiny smile and asked for a lunch out with him. 'Just as friends' she had signed to him, but he didn't miss the hint of blush that crept up on her cheeks.

"Well, if you want lunch I know a great place right across from Fairy Tail street and over the bridge." He signed slowly as he spoke the words with each hand signal.

Levy's eyes lit up and the smile that slid it's way from ear to ear on her face made his stomach nauseous. She bounced up and down excitedly and frantically signed. "Is it greek?"

Gajeel chuckled. "It's whatever you want," he signed to her. "They have everything there."

Levy squeaked, bouncing on her toes and clapping her hands happily. Without another hand sign she skipped off down the stairs of their apartment complex. Leaving Gajeel to follow far behind and watch her dance impatiently by his car. He sauntered up, taking his time, he enjoyed watching her grow more impatient the longer he took. Finally she signed at him to hurry up. He laughed and told her the food wasn't going anywhere.

"No but the waiting staff might if you take all day!" she signed, puffing up her cheeks.

"Relax, shorty," he signed and said aloud. He walked around to the passenger side and opened her door. She still had that to-die-for smile on her face when she stepped in and immediately took a book out of the satchel that hung from her shoulder and began to read.

He got in the driver's seat, stealing one last glance at Levy reading beside him. _Yer a fool, Gajeel._ He told himself silently. _A damn fool in love._

 **A/N: Don't forget that reviews are like my life blood. Leaving one is bound to motivate me to write more and put out more chapters. That being said this is only a three chapter fic but I hope you enjoy it either way!**


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